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The inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, says an
"open" internet, free of Government and corporate controls, is
crucial.

The physicist is in New Zealand for a series of public
appearances, including a rare public lecture at Te Papa museum in
Wellington.

Three hundred people attended the lecture tonight and
appropriately those who missed out on tickets could log on and
watch it streamed live through the internet.

Sir Tim said it was important to ensure the internet is a place
of open communication.

"The fact that everybody can talk to everybody else is really
important," he said ahead of his lecture which looked at the value
of the 'Open Internet' and why it matters for New Zealand and the
world.

"That's sometimes called net neutrality so make sure Governments
and companies across the world don't try to take control of the web
for their own purposes."

Sir Tim explains net neutrality to be like a sheet of paper.

"A sheet of paper does not have opinions about what's written on
it. You can write good things and bad things but the paper itself
is neutral."

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The physicist is revered within computer programming circles for
creating the system for interlinked web pages which are accessed
using the internet.

Berners-Lee uploaded his first web page using the internet back
in 1990 and has since overseen the development of the Web as the
director of the World Wide Web Consortium.

He even had a cameo spot at the Opening Ceremony for the London
Olympics last year, tweeting live from the stadium on one of the
computers he used to first pioneer the Web more than 20 years
ago.

The issue of copyright and internet freedom has been
particularly topical in New Zealand in the past year with the
ongoing extradition case for Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom.

The internet tycoon is wanted by US authorities for online
piracy charges related to his former file sharing website.